Not surprisingly, the Red Sox elected to place Eduardo Rodriguez on the IL for the beginning of the season, allowing him additional time to recover from the "dead arm'' that plagued him in the final week of spring training.
Rodriguez, who was originally set to pitch the season opener, will instead throw a simulated game at the team's alternate training site at Polar Park Friday. The expectation is that Rodriguez will be ready to be activated by April 10, when the Sox are in Baltimore for their first road series of the season.
With Rodriguez unavailable, his spot in the rotation will be temporarily assumed by Tanner Houck, who will pitch Saturday at Fenway.
"(Rodriguez) going on the IL is nothing long-term,'' said Alex Cora. "We just ran out of time to build him up. The hope is for him to return to us sooner rather than later -- and sooner is, like, next week.''
The move is backdated to March 29.
Cora was happy with Houck's last start, in which he threw 4.1 scoreless innings with just one walk.
"Early in camp,'' Cora said, "it was like he was trying to impress someone. I told him (early in camp), 'You just go out there and pitch.' But his velocity was way up and he was out of his delivery. He felt like he was off. You saw his last one, he was more under control. It's not that he was uncomfortable early on, but he was trying to do (too much). But that's part of the learning process.
"He's going to be excited on Saturday because he's going to pitch in front of his family for the first time as a big leaguer. But I think he's in a good position now to come here and contribute.''
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